In search of glory
by Vortexswirl
Summary: AU. Sakura thought she was going to be in Sasuke's team and was Going Places. Instead she fails her jonin test and is dropped into the genin corps. Can she achieve her dreams now? Or will she fall into obscurity? Features a darker shinobi world, and gradual ooc x Sakura.
1. First test

**AN: Hello everyone! This is a story which explores an AU where Sakura isn't placed in team 7, which gives way to chain of events leading to her being placed in the genin corps. It will have a more mature Sakura , unfortunate amounts of politics and oc's. It will be an attempt to show a more independent Sakura growing up without many of the constraints placed on her by canon.R &R.**

 **First test**

Haruno Sakura wasn't feeling all that great on her last day at the Ninja academy. It had begun with her race with her rival Ino, whose result had been inconclusive ( even though she insisted she had won). She then had to witness Naruto and Sasuke kiss each other, the idiot having the gall to steal her crush's first kiss. The nerve of him, she thought, sitting down following the thorough beat down she and her other rivals( she wouldn't refer to themselves as fangirls, even in her head- she was much too dignified for that). Iruka-sensei had started calling out the genin team pairings and she immediately noticed that not a single team would had more than one kunoichi. Her jaw clenched as she thought about anyone else other than herself being in Sasuke-kun's team.

Iruka-sensei's voice was drowning on, but suddenly her attention was entirely focused on him as she heard him say-

"Team 6 – Haruno Sakura", he paused and looked up here and Sakura felt a little foreboding as she saw his inscrutable eyes, " Ishikawa Ryusei and Okada Yuma."

Sakura felt crushed as Iruka-sensei confirmed that, yes, she hadn't been placed in Sasuke-kun's team. She heard Naruto loudly complain about how he should have been placed with 'his Sakura-chan'. The rest of the team selection passed in a sort of daze for Sakura. She perked up however, when she noticed that one of the only non-fangirls(she was not admitting to that, dammit!), Hyuuga Hinata was placed in team 7 with Naruto and Sasuke.

Immediately after Iruka-sensei called out " Team 8- Inuzuka Kiba, Matsuda Sadashi and Aburame Shino".

Distantly, Sakura's brilliant mind noted that the team was entirely composed of clan shinobi. The Aburame and Inuzuka were both major clans, while the Matsuda clan though lesser, was well known in artisan circles among the civilians. Among Shinobi, they were known for their surreal, dream like genjutsus. She knew this in the same way that she knew that Naruto, even if he was an orphan, was a member of an extinct clan called the Uzumaki, who were known for their fuuinjutsu. Her mind noted that the major clan heirs and Naruto had all been paired within three teams, which seemed like a really bad distribution if one was to try and keep balance between the non-clan and clan Shinobi in the genin teams. Her own team was composed entirely of non-clan Shinobi as far as she could see.

Sakura's musings were interrupted by a loud, obnoxious voice:

"Iruka-sensei! Why does a great ninja like me have to be on the same team as that bastard?" Naruto shouts, pointing at Sasuke-kun.

Hinata gave a choaked yelp following the bold declaration.

Sakura's feeling of irritation towards the blonde rockets up, and she feels a stab of jealousy as she finds that the annoying idiot didn't even want to be in Sasuke-kun's team, and yet, here she was willing to do anything to be where he was.

"Sasuke's grades were first among all twenty-seven graduates while you were Dead Last, Naruto. Even Hinata is the top Kunoichi this year. We have to balance the teams, understand?"

Sakura, isn't that surprised to hear that. Academically she left everyone in the dust, but the academy had always focused more on physical prowess than anything else.

Several people snicker after hearing sensei's words. Hinata blushes and puts her head down , mumbling incoherently.

Sakura is not quite able to laugh out loud, but the scene brings back her smile.

Iruka sensei wraps up the team selections and breaks them up for lunch before they have to meet their jonin-senseis.

She looks around the class, her eyes landing on the two boys who would potentially be her teammates for a long time to come. Sakura doesn't know Ryusei or Yuma properly, but hopefully things would turn out alright.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The introductions don't go over particularly well.

"Just stay out of my way kid. I am not going to babysit you!" Ryusei barks out at Sakura's admittedly timid introductions.

Sakura feels both indignation and fear listening to his reply. The boy in question was a hulk for his age- a head over Sakura and built like a tank. She wanted to chastise him like she did Naruto. But looking at the thinly veiled malice in his eyes Sakura remembers that Ryusei was Ami's male counterpart at the academy. He hadn't focused his attention on her before, thankfully, probably because of her closeness to a clan heir, and she didn't want it focused on her now, either.

So Haruno Sakura purses her lips and walks away from a smirking Ryusei as quickly as was possible.

Okada Yuma was, in comparison, much more pleasant but equally disheartening, in some ways. He was eating with three or four other people when Sakura approached.

"Hi! I'm Haruno Sakura, Okada-san! Your new genin teammate. It's nice to meet you." She said as sincerely as she could manage.

Yuma looked up from his friends and smiled slightly at her, though it didn't look particularly pleasant.

"Okada Yuma, Haruno-san. Though I'm not sure about the genin teammates part."

Sakura feels confused and it must be visible on her face, as she sees the mirth in his eyes. Against her will, a blush rises in her face.

"Why?" she squeaks.

Yuma regards her silently. After a few seconds of scrutiny, he says aloud,

"Only about three or four genin teams are formed each year out of all the teams. The other teams are usually dumped into the genin corps. Now, normally one or two clanless shinobi are part of these teams, but this year we have too many upper clan heirs, so it's more than likely they are going to be the only ones who make the cut. Hence, more than likely that our team will be disbanded, so there is no point in believing we will be teammates, no?"

Yuma said all this in a measured and detached tone. Sakura is dumbfounded by what she hears. His words make her nauseous. She feels like yelling at him Naruto-style about spreading bullshit and stupid lies.

" **Let's kick his ass, cha**!" her inner shouts, making her first appearance that day.

Sakura, however, decides that no, she wasn't about to follow her inner's advice, which generally did more harm than good. She settles for shouting:

"What the heck is that supposed to mean! You can't be serious. And how can you say only three teams will pass?"

Yuma, sighs, and shakes his head as if talking to a child which makes him seem less rock-like and more like a depressed bastard with issues.

"I have two older brothers in the genin corps. Their jonin-sensei had failed their teams and had told them about about the three -team graduation system common in Konoha."

Sakura, who was previously fuming at him, felt a shiver run up her spine as she considers the implications of what he said. She was not an idiot- she did have the best written scores in her year- and her mind immediately starts to catalogue and find flaws in his statement. Assuming what he said was true, it raised the question of which teams did make to the jonin track? Was it solely based on clan politics as Yuma said? Or was there more? Sakura felt colder, as she remembers that three teams this year had major clan heirs. Was there a chance that one of them would fail? Could her team pass? They couldn't just fail a team anyway, right? So they must have a testing system, which meant she still had a chance.

She was about to share her idea about the test to Yuma when he said again,

" Look, I know it's difficult to accept, but the sooner you accept it, the sooner you can move on. There's no point in sticking around and bothering me, when neither of us are going to see each other after today. So go on, shoo!" he said in his detached, bored voice.

Sakura promptly scraps her idea of sharing information with this bastard and storms away furiously. The nerve of him! And did he just try and shoo her? Hell, let him go and fail his test, see if she cared!

Sakura decided, her plan could wait after lunch. Truthfully, she had decided that thinking about it would be too troublesome, as that lazy-ass friend of Ino's would say. She started searching for Sasuke-kun. She knew Sasuke-kun would be able to calm her down. He always listened to what she had to say, never interrupting , surely he would know better than that absolute bastard Yuma.

XOXOXOXOXOX

Ishida Ryuga was a terrifying sight. If she thought Ryusei was big, then this man was colossal. Over six and half feet tall, built like a wrestler with a frown etched on his forehead, he looked exactly like what Sakura imagined a fearsome joñin to look like. His ridiculously bushy moustache would have looked funny on anyone else, but on him it just added to the fierceness of his disposition.

"Let's cut to the chase, brats! I am Ishida Ryuga, elite jonin of Konohagakure and you are cannon fodder. I don't want your names nor do I care what you do in your free time. I am going to test you to see if any of you have a chance to make it in the jonin track. Meet me at training ground 5 in ten minutes!" he bellows and promptly disappears.

Team 6 had been standing awkwardly outside their classroom, where their jonin-sensei had lead them to after lunch. Ryusei was the first to recover and promptly started running. Sakura, who was reeling from being called cannon fodder, recovers and starts following after Ryusei. They had to hurry if they wanted to reach the training ground in time.

Numbly , Sakura thought that Yuma had been right, that her chances of passing this test was next to none if their jonin already thought them disposable cannon fodder.

Her heart was racing and she was panting heavily as she reaches training ground 5. She was physically fit, of course, but her stamina had never been the best. Yuma, was trailing behind her and both of them quickly joined their third teammate in front of their tank like instructor who was standing nonchalantly against a pole dug in the ground.

Training ground 5 was on the smaller side for a genin training ground, with a small pond on the northern side . It was covered by thick foliage and huge hashirama trees common in Konoha. It was usually used by the academy students when they needed to be taught en masse in a leaf ninja's natural habit without any real danger.

"Hmph, that was pathetic! Do you really think you can survive out in the real world with that kind of fitness , kunoichi?" he barks, sneering at Sakura.

Sakura flushes, feeling flustered at being called out. She had never been physically strong, but no one had ever insulted her like this!

"Listen brats! I have placed a single scroll somewhere here in the training field. Your mission objective will be to bring me what is inside the scroll. Whoever brings me the item passes. "

Sakura was about to interrupt but a glare from Ryuga-sensei silenced her.

"During this mission you are going to be wearing chakra-restraining cuffs" he grins producing six arm bands from his pack. They looked peculiar with small seals running along their length.

"Normally, one cuff is enough, but I'm going to be placing two on each of you and give the keys to both your teammates. "

He said all this in a gleeful voice which was verging on being creepy, and suddenly there were three of him. Sakura jumps at the sight of the bunshins, which he had apparently made without handseals. Their sensei hands two bands to each bunshins, which then immediately leap into action.

Sakura has a split second's warning before one of the huge clones was snapping two bands on her arms. Sakura feels the seals even before the bands are locked. Suddenly she feels very light and weak. In the academy, they had once been shown and put in a chakra restraining cuff, but either these were different or two at the same time made them very potent. The nausea passed and in its place a feeling of heaviness remained.

Sakura reaches out for her chakra, but where there had been a warm pool before, she felt a aching void now. She watches her teammates from the corner of her eyes and is mollified to see how both Ryusei and Yuma look as pale as she felt.

Ryuga's grin widens and she feels extremely creeped out looking at three Ryuga's grinning at them. They were given two keys each, which Sakura placed in her pouch.

"You have one hour, maggots! Now scramp!" he bellows.

Sakura bit down on her instinctive fear, and raises her hand timidly. Ryuga-sensei just raises an eyebrow at her.

"Sensei, why is there only one scroll for the three of us?"

The ear splitting grin Ryuga-sensei gives her immediately makes Sakura regret asking the question.

"So nice of you to ask chibi kunoichi-chan! One scroll means only one of you will get the scroll, of course! So better hurry up, neh?", he says mirthfully, ignoring the protests from Yuma and Sakura.

Ryusei just grins once, before sprinting off to the other side of the field to begin his search.

Sakura knew that without her chakra to enhance her, she was the weakest among the three. She decides to start near the lake and hoped she got lucky and spotted the scroll before her teammates. She needed to pass, the alternate would be someone like Ryusei passing while she was left behind in the genin corps, and that, Sakura thought grimly, was unacceptable.

The academy had covered quite a few classes on search and retrieve situations in the past. Sakura starts off looking for signs of the scroll. She searches the underbrush thoroughly before looking at the trees surrounding the lake. They looked undisturbed, but she knew better than to believe that. Looking at every broken twig and crushed leaf took time, but their wasn't much chance of missing any hidden place like this. For about half an hour she searched her corner dilligently.

She was about to give up and start looking elsewhere when she spots the scuffed ground near one of the huge hashirama trees. Sakura feels a stab of irritation as she finds a scroll neatly bundled under a plastic wrap there. She could have found it much earlier if she had thought it was hidden so ostentatiously. The irritation, was however quickly replaced by euphoria at the thought of passing her test.

She opens the plastic wrap and looks at the scroll for the first time. Her giddiness suddenly fades, dread replacing it as she sees that it was a sealing scroll. Her brilliant mind immediately understood why her sensei had insisted on the restraining cuffs. Without chakra, she had no chance of opening the scroll and retrieving what was inside. The only way, she could open the scroll was to get the keys for her cuffs from both her other teammates.

I am dead. She thinks numbly. In brute strength she had no chance of winning against either the hulking Ryusei or the wiry Yuma. Her taijutsu was barely average and if it came down to combat she would loose. She could try and ambush them, but it was unlikely she could ambush one without drawing the other's attention to her. Surprise attacks had the same problem. Dammit, she was running out of time and no obvious solutions were coming to her.

I have to trap them and hope for the best, she thought ruefully. She decided that the best way to spring a trap on both of them was by drawing attention towards her.

Sakura didn't have too much experience with traps, since it was a speciality skill taught mostly to genin going for tracking or assassination specialities. But she was smart, maybe not Nara level, but up there with the best of them. Wherever she falters in experience and skill, she substitutes with logic.

She calculates the likeliest direction from where both her teammates might come to check on her distraction. She was sure that Ryusei was going to rush in without much thought. She didn't think he thought much of her skills so wasn't likely to check too deeply. Yuma was going to be the wildcard in her plan.

The fact that neither her teammates had chakra also ensured that her traps didn't need to be rigorous as much as discreet. They had to depend completely on their physical prowess and smarts to escape her.

Sakura finishes off her traps within the next ten minutes. They weren't the best, but she was hoping they would do the job.

Now for distraction. Sakura uses all her the swooning experience from Inner(" **I'm not a fangirl, Dammit** ") and gives a loud squeal and triumphant shout.

As she thought, Ryusei immediately stops his frantic last minute search and takes off towards her, smirking widely. Yuma also disengages and cautiously starts towards Sakura.

She had chosen a good place to lay the ambush, besides the lake, in a narrow ledge squashed between two huge trees. This would force them to either come through the trees or through the lake.

Ryusei, of course, doesn't spots the obvious trap like situation as he hammers right within Sakura's range. He stops near her and grins ferally seeing the scroll in her trembling hands.

" You got the scroll, I see, little girlie. You have no where to run. Now hand it over quietly and I will let you go. "

Sakura for her part was trying to decide between sighing at his stupidity or rolling her eyes at the lame cliche, all the while trying to maintain a scared façade.

"N-No way! I got it first. I am not giving it to you." She tried to put as much fear as she could in that statement, which would have been infinitely easier if he wasn't standing right on top of a trap.

"I was hoping you would say that.", Ryusei grins again and launches himself at her.

Or tries to at least. Ryusei was both extremely surprised and disoriented as he suddenly finds himself hanging upside down from one of the tree branches. He realizes suddenly what had just happened.

"You little piece of shit! I'm gonna kill you when I get down from here. Just you….hmmmph", his tirade was cut off as Sakura hastily gags him and removes his pouch. He starts protesting again , but Sakura didn't have time to do much more about him as she notices Yuma approach their location.

Yuma had meanwhile cautiously edged towards Sakura's spot. He had noticed a while back that this entire situation smelt of a trap. Ryusei's sudden silence was all the confirmation he needed. Even though he grasped what was happening, Yuma didn't understand why Haruno had decided to attack them. Nearing the edge of the clump of trees, he spots Ryusei's hanging form. He was startled enough by it that he nearly missed the whistling sound of shuriken thundering towards him.

 _Shit_.

He ducks in the nick of time, quickly loosening some of his shuriken. He quickly avoids another trap and was just about to enter the ledge when he sees a flash of pink behind him. Grinning to himself, he quickly launches the shuriken towards her direction. He hears her curse before he spots her crashing into the underbrush. She must have been hit because before he knows it, she hangs upside down, fallen into one of her own traps.

He barely manages to crush the urge to laugh hysterically. As it is a few chuckles escape.

She really must be pathetic, unable to dodge her own traps. He approaches her, grinning in triumph as he looks at her dazed face.

"Not very smart of you is it, _friend_?", Yuma says trying to put as much disdain in the word as he could.

Sakura watches him through lidded eyes waiting for the moment _. Just a little closer._

"So why did you want both Ryusei and me here, mm? I am guessing you wanted something? Did you find the scroll?", Yuma says in a bored tone, though Sakura could still see the amusement in his voice. He was nearly there.

Sakura decided to tell him. He was still wary of nearing, but if he felt in control, he was more likely to let his guard down.

"I got the scroll. But it needs chakra to open, so I needed the keys for the cuffs,", she said, trying to put enough sullenness to her voice. Sakura had never felt as grateful for her Inner than she did then. Her daily interaction with her provided her the necessary grounding to act like a sullen, spoilt brat( **Hey**!)

Yuma relaxes further and smirks as he hears her. Sealing scroll, that's why. She had just made his life much easier.

"Well, thanks for the hard work. I think I will be taking that scroll from you now." He says and promptly starts moving again.

And falls right into her trap. The trap had been set on a lever system. Immediately Sakura was back on the ground and her teammate was hanging from the tree.

Sakura dosen't give him much time to react she hops onto the tree and was soon holding his kunai pouch as well.

"See you later, friend", trying her best to emulate his earlier disdainful tone, all the while grinning like an idiot.

Her plan had worked. She had taken a real risk with Yuma's trap, but her gamble paid off. She set about unlocking her chakra cuffs. It took some juggling, but soon enough she had it opened. Immediately she opened the sealing scroll, to see what was inside.

What was inside was not what she expected. At all. From a cloud of smoke, which were the tell tale signs of a summoning, Ryuga-sensei suddenly appears. He casts an unimpressed look around, seeing the tied up forms of Ryusei and Yuma. Finally he turns to look at Sakura, and with inscrutable eyes says,

"All of you fail."

XOXOXOXOXOX

Ishida Ryuga had been following the goings-on of the three children slated for the genin corps from the beginning of the little competition. He had been unimpressed by anything the genin had to offer and just as unimpressed with their teamwork.

The test that he had given was usually given to potential genin Corp teams. It was said to be more difficult to pass than Hatake Kakashi's infamous Bell test. It had been designed so that their were no clues that teamwork was the key to win the test. Unless the teammates were great friends, their was rarely anyone who would give away their key without a fight. And if you fought for the key, you failed the test. Since it's conception, the test hadn't had any passes. So he wasn't surprised that this team had also failed. What he was surprised by however, was that the kunoichi in the team had gotten to the scroll first. Without chakra, the difference between kunoichi and shinobi became alarming, and nearly every time a male won. It had been a long time since a kunoichi had won this test.

Ryuga eyes the girl, Haruno Sakura carefully while delivering the result of the test. He has read her profile, and was therefore confused to find that the profile and the person differed so much. Usually, the ninja instructors created a more or less accurate profile. Her's had been a classic fangirl's profile. Little interest in ninja arts while much more interested in pursuing boys. Yes she was probably smart. But the sort of smartness and on-the-spot thinking required for this sort of ambush was more likely to be found in the Naras, or (he will never say it aloud) the Kyuubi brat. There were discrepancies in her profile, and it made her interesting.

More predictable, however, is her outrage, and God, this girl was as shrill as a banshee.

"What do you mean we fail! You said the first one to give you the scroll would pass! That is me! How can I fail if I do what you say! That makes no sense!"…

Ryuga was always amused by the Victor's tirades but his chakra enhanced hearing was making it too painful in this instance. He cut in,

"I will explain, let me get your teammates first." He says and promptly vanishes.

He sends a clone to release the Yuma boy while he himself went to release the bulkier Ryusei. He sends another clone to clear the traps around the spot, which were decently competent, another thing missing in her profile. He shakes his head. The boys are untied and free within half a minute.

"You bitch! How dare you tie me up like that! You wait now…." But before he was able to jump on the girl, Ryuga cuts him off,

"Ninja are supposed to be sneaky and smart. She caught you by a fairly obvious trap and it should be you ashamed." He said without an ounce of pity in his voice.

Ryusei glares at Sakura but she was still too angry to pay him mind. She demanded again angrily, "So, why didn't I pass?"

Ryuga, gives a loud sigh and says,

" Being a ninja means looking underneath the underneath. For passing this test, you required a key from both of your teammates. Everyone of you would have attacked the other for this key. Ishikawa! You attacked a teammate for a scroll. And Okada! You were no better, you saw a chance to pounce at the scroll, when your teammate was vulnerable and you took it!"

He cut off the tirade that was sure to follow with a glare. Finally he turned to the kunoichi, who looked paler. Good.

"Haruno! You showed good ninja tactics, but missed the obvious- none of you were supposed to attack the other for the keys. This is Konoha, not Kiri. We work in teams. We trust the team members with our lives. We don't attack our own teammates for anything less than the kage's order. Look Underneath the underneath. "

"The point of this test was to choose your team over your chance to pass." He finishes, looking the girl in the eye. She was looking down at her feet and looked to be in the verge of crying. Pity. She had been a smart one, would have made chunnin easily in a real team. He hated this part of the speech.

"And that is why all of you fail."

XOXOXOXOXOXO


	2. The Genin Corps

**AN: Here's the next chapter, it's shorter but it was necessary.**

Genin Corps

"So Ishida-san, what happens now?" , Yuma says, more resigned than anything. He had seen it come.

Sakura was feeling numb. She had failed. Her chances of becoming a strong kunoichi had just been reduced exponentially . She had heard enough about the genin corps to know what happened to a vast majority of them. Her mother had been in the genin corps, after all.

Ishida-san was quiet for a moment before sighing and saying , "You lot are going to get an induction into the genin corps tomorrow. Be at the academy tomorrow early at seven. Look sharp, the counsellors are going to look for your strong points before any selections but it doesn't hurt your chances if you look proper. What you do later in life can be affected heavily by what happens tomorrow. I will also be there. Go home now."

Sakura started walking as soon as her sensei, no, Ishida-san , said those words. She didn't even glance towards her teammates, one of whom was giving her a ferocious glare and the other was staring absently in her direction. If she had paid attention , she would have seen Ishida-san look at her with something akin to regret.

Sakura had never really been someone who cared for her ninja training. Yes, she did what was necessary to pass. She had been smart enough to take the path of least effort regarding her training. Her near perfect memory had made it extremely easy for her to learn and replicate katas. She heavily lacked in stamina and muscles, but had compensated that with smarts. It had suited her well until then. If she could finish her own katas quickly in taijutsu, she could sit quietly(or not so quietly) and ogle at Sasuke while he flawlessly completed his katas, his lithe and fit body and flexing muscles making her blush more often than not. A lot of times she was more bored than anything in the academy, which she hadn't minded all that much about because her later years at the academy had been for following her crush as much as it had been for ninja training.

Any dreams of becoming a strong kunoichi had been lost somewhere along the journey to her aspirations for Sasuke's heart. She was nothing if not realistic, after all. She could probably toil away day and night, and in the end Sasuke would still have beaten her soundly. He was an Uchiha after all, she had justified. It would be months before Sakura realizes just how _flawed_ exactly her argument was.

Sakura had never let herself believe that there could be greater tragedies in life than not being placed in her crush's team.

But now, after her sensei had failed her, now that she had lost what was probably her best opportunity at becoming something great by herself (because even if she hadn't believed in herself, she had dared to _hope ),_ the sheer _pettiness_ of her dream had started coming down on her. It was like a fog lifting from over her mind as she realizes just how idiotic she had been. Maybe, training wouldn't have made her into another prodigy like Sasuke, but she would have likely _passed_ if she had made more than a half-assed attempt at being a kunoichi.

Sakura knew that she had probably lost any chance of getting together with Sasuke, now that she was a _failure._ But she didn't have the energy to mourn that loss. She had _better_ things to grieve.

Her dreams of being a powerful kunoichi. To be someone remembered. To have her own legacy. To do something in life on which she could take real pride in.

Tears started falling freely down her cheeks, half way to her home. People were surprised and alarmed to see her cry openly in the streets. Ninja didn't cry. It was one of the unwritten codices of shinobi. They were expected to be the rocks who anchored the civilian so that they could have a safe place to express themselves.

Sakura didn't give a damn who saw her. If she had any chakra training she would have been able to take to the rooftops. But tree-walking, which was needed for that was taught by jonin-sensei, not the academy. She had asked Iruka-sensei about it one day. At the thought of her jonin sensei fresh tears came up. Sakura just started moving faster. She didn't want to face the judgmental looks the people were giving her, both ninja and civilian alike.

Her home was located in a thoroughly civilian section of Konoha, with the Yamanaka compound being the closest ninja presence, which was ten blocks away. She did her best to gather herself somewhat before she reached her home. Sakura may not care about the other people but she loved her parents. She didn't want her mother to have to see her that way. Her mother didn't deserve that.

XOXOXOXOXOXOX

Dinner that night at the Haruno's residence was quiet. Sakura was in a sullen, contemplative mood and her parents were alternating between worrying and hovering over her. She was much more composed now than she was when she had returned home that afternoon, and a little embarrassed about the whole fiasco.

Once her mother had managed to calm her down from her sobbing, she had badgered Sakura until she broken down and told her why she had been crying so hard.

Sakura tries to explain what had happened that day as best as she could, between her hiccupping fits. She finishes off saying,

" I will never be anything more than a genin if I enter the corps, maybe a chunnin if I get really lucky." Sakura says bitterly.

She immediately feels guilty saying this when she looks up at her mother's lowered gaze. Her festering bitterness increases as she realizes how she had practically called her mother's ninja career, however brief, as 'nothing'.

"Is that what you think about the genin corps, Sakura-chan?", her mother asks her softly.

The calmness and sympathy oozing from mother even after being insulted nearly makes Sakura break down again.

"I-I don't know what to think." She replies meekly, though her impression of the failures' group wasn't all too pleasant or charitable. But she holds her tongue.

Her mother must have seen some of her inner turmoil because she smiles wrily and asks,

"Do you want to know about it, then? I wasn't there for long but I could tell you about it briefly."

Sakura nods. Her mother had never really talked about her years in the genin corps in detail. All she had known was that the four years she had spent there had been boring and unpleasant.

Mebuki sighs and continues, "Well let me start at the basics, then. You have to spend at least 4 years on the genin corps after passing graduation in Konoha. It is mandatory. This is done to ensure that the investment that the village makes in training you is paid back. You can't get out of that, unless you are able to acquire a jonin-sensei or an apprenticeship. This usually happens when bigger clans' members get into the corps- they are assigned apprenticeships. Any questions, yet?", her mother asks her.

Sakura had stopped fidgeting and was listening raptly to her mother.

"Is there any other way to get a jonin tutor?", she askes as she suddenly feels a surge of hope.

Which is dashed as soon as Mebuki shakes her head, "You could impress a jonin enough that he may offer you an apprenticeship, but that rarely happens below chunnin level, especially for clanless shinobi."

Sakura feels her bitterness flare again when she hears this. The entire shinobi system seems to be geared towards giving advantages to the clans. The sheer nepotism makes her want to go out and beat up something to a bloody pulp. In her mind's eye that something is tall and stoic, dressed in the strict uniform and wearing something which looks suspiciously like the Hokage's hat. Before that day, she had thought that her village rewarded the talented and hard-working. In her dreams , anyone who had the drive could become a hero, from the lowliest peasant to a big clan heir. How naive, she thinks, sneering internally at her blindness.

" Well, let's continue. People can be assigned into three sectors- the medic corps, the intelligence department and the general genin corps. Usually the medic corps and intelligence department require specialized skills and have a lot of people from the jonin track. Few people actually have any of the skills for intelligence or medic work. The general genin corps is where nearly everyone starts." Mebuki pauses .

"That's where I started. Anyway, unless you can get into the other two departments, nearly all the new ninjas are stationed outside Konoha in the towns and bigger villages. They provide some support in terms of minor altercations and bandit problems. They also provide quick messenger services if anyone needs to hire ninja. This alllows minor ninja presence all over Fire country. They provide an useful information network and remind the local people about the ninjas. "She smiles bitterly at this and Sakura is reminded how _that_ is enforced in Konoha:

 _Sakura had been five years old when she first heard about the public executions. She was alone as usual in the park near her home, and was spending her time eavesdropping on various conversations while trying to stay discreet. Sakura had seen the other children play ninja, and had developed her own version of the game with the help of her Inner._

 _She hears one older boy, about nine or so whisper loudly to his friend,_

" _They are going to have another hanging tomorrow evening, you hear?" He seemed awfully excited about this 'hanging' event._

 _The other boy just shrugs and asked distastefully if it was happening at the usual place._

" _Nope, I think they are moving it closer to the old warehouse district off the Nara campus."_

" _But that's nearly here!" the other boy exclaims._

" _Yes! And I'm gonna go and watch!"_

 _Sakura's indefatigable curiosity had perked up, so she decided to follow the boys come tomorrow and watch whatever had them so excited._

 _In Konoha, kids grew up awfully fast. The next day, one little pink haired girl grew up faster than most of her peers. She tried to hide it. But underneath all the gustiness and brawn she started showing the world, she knew it wouldn't be enough to save her from the evils of the world. So when one day, her cute, innocent yellow-haired friend asked her if she wanted to become a ninja, Sakura didn't hesitate before saying yes._

" These missions are usually a year or two long, unless of course you pass a chunnin exam, which is extremely rare. Anyway, after this period, they usually enter you into your first genin cells. These are lead by a chunnin. They give you low level missions, most of which are small C-ranks and give you some time to prepare for the chunnin exams. This is also the time when any potential medic or into lligence agent is properly trained for the first time."

"After, your four years are complete you can choose to retire from the corps, which happens in a lot of cases. That's what I did.", Mebuki says and Sakura can read her mother well enough to know that she had done so gladly.

"What happens to those who stay?" Sakura enquires curiously.

" They usually continue doing smaller missions until they are able to pass the chunnin exams. Or they can start taking long term missions and start specializing in specific skills, which gives them a chance to move into the regular ninja forces under the jonin. Most other's either join the medic corps or the intelligence department." Her mother finishes with a shrug.

"How is it like in there, mum?" Sakura asks her mother the most important question she could think of.

"It isn't funny or as excitable as jonin track missions, it might be downright boring. The positions are looked down upon by the general ninja and civilians both. Their isn't much scope to learn. But, regardless of all this, it is much safer in comparison. The people their are not all clumsy and stupid. Quite a few jonin have come from the genin corps." Her mother says and continues quickly before Sakura could undoubtedly ask something else,

" Point is, just because you ended up in the corps doesn't mean you have to give up all hopes of becoming something in life , you know? There will be oppurtinites. Its not the end of life.",her mother says, finishing the last line with a distinct smile.

XOXOXOXOXO

The academy was a very _different_ place, the next morning. It was as busy as usual. But where normally the majority of the people inside where students going about their business accompanied by healthy doses of shouting and ruckus, the people that morning were mostly adults, with some teenagers added to the mix, all of them being deceptively quite, which just confirmed there ninja background.

Sakura didn't like the unnatural quietness of the academy. The depressing mood was increased further by the melancholy of the fourteen students present. They sat in silence for the most part. Sakura didn't say a word to anyone, though she took a moment to hide a smile as she saw that Ami was also present there. She pointedly ignored the looks her ex-teammates sent her. She had enough to deal with as it was, and was in no mood to face their ire.

Sakura was still in deep thought when the door of the classroom opened to admit a bunch of different people. At the lead was Iruka-sensei who looked grim-faced and serious. He was followed by a tall man in a purple, high collared shirt and a pair of glasses, and a man who seemed to have walked out of a horror movie. Sakura had known about torture-every ninja graduate had some training in pain tolerance. But this man seemed to have gone through every torture implement in existence _and come out alive._ Sakura was stuck between gaping at him in awe or disgust.

The other men who followed were a combination of discreet and ostentatious. Sakura was of the opinion that the two discreet ninja were likely to be from the genin corps while the flashy people, among whom was Ishida-san, were most likely all jonin-sensei. Sakura resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Did all jonin have to be so ostentatious? Or was it just a sign of insanity? Sakura was leaning towards the latter explanation.

"Good morning and welcome back everyone! I'm sure all of you know about the orientation. Let me make a few introductions first before we get started." Iruka-sensei says loudly pausing to point at the respective people.

Yakushi Hideki, the stiff guy with the specs, was the head medic at Konoha general hospital. Morino Ibiki was the scarred horror movie movie character who was the head of T&I and representing the intelligence bureau . Huugya Noburo was a non-discript jonin with eerie white eyes which Sakura remembered seeing on Hinata, who was in charge of the general genin corps. Fū Yamanaka was an analyst who was going to help place us based on our profiles. He looked unlike any other Yamanaka she had ever seen. He had orangish resld hair and yellow eyes which looked dead. Something about him felt unnatural to Sakura. Maybe, she had spent too much time in the Yamanaka compound, or maybe it was her intuition, but her brain was insisting that something was _really_ wrong about this Yamanaka with cold, calculating eyes.

The jonin-sensei lined up quitely behind everyone else. Sakura could feel Ishida-san's eyes on her but she ignored it like she has ignored her teammates.

Sakura had been keenly observing all this so she was nearly startled when she heard the quite Huugya speak up.

"Good morning everyone. Every one of you here has been selected for the genin corps. Looking at some of your faces, however, I'm sure many of you think that you have been given the reject jobs. It is my job to tell you that it isn't so."

He said all this in a monotone voice with only the barest inflection of humour as he said the last line. He obviously didn't give a damn about what they did or didn't think. If this was a motivating speech, then it was probably the worst one Sakura had heard in her life.

"The reality of the situation is, however, that the genin corps provides a solid grounding for normal ninja to perform high level missions. Nearly our entire information network is run by the genin corps. Nearly the entire policing force of fire country outside Konoha and the capital is provided from the genin corps. Most of our spies, messengers and medics come from the corps. And yet other people seem to think that all we do is sit around all day and _play_ ninja." Even with his inflectionless tone, what he said _was_ heartening to hear for many of the people present. The corps had a really bad reputation, and if it wasn't for her mother, Sakura was sure she would also have been among the ignorants.

Sakura understood some of what was being left unsaid in the background. She could see that even if they weren't exactly useless, the village thought the members of the corps were obviously lesser than their jonin track counterparts. She already understood that the corps was a sort of dumping ground for all but the best non-clan shinobi. She had taken a headcount when she had entered the room. Their were only fourteen of her classmates present in the room. And the missing people were definitely not all teammates. Most of the remaining clan shinobi who had failed had already been removed from the genin program at this point. They would be getting missions and training through their respective clans.

"It is not a glamorous job. We don't use flashy Justus for the most part. It is, however, a necessary job. One that needs to be done by someone."

"Anyway, let's get on with it. This is going to take some time. We are going to call each of you one by one and check your compatibility with the various departments here. We are all going to evaluate you separately and see where you belong. " He finishes the line and starts walking out immediately after.

The adults move out of the classroom one by one as abruptly as they had entered.

Sakura and everyone else sit in tense anticipation waiting to be called. Soon enough, Iruka comes in and calls out one of the boys and escorts him out of the room.

It takes a lot of time, and the tense silence is soon replaced by nervous chatter. Sakura herself had decided to keep her head down and think about the best way of addressing several of the issues that she had catalogued since evening the day before.

She needed to talk to Ino first. Her revelations yesterday had made her ashamed of her behaviour towards her the last three years. Yes, she had been a brat as well, but Sakura hadn't been any better. They had let their crush come in between their friendship. She had probably passed her jonin test. The distance that had been growing between them would undoubtedly grow larger now. She wanted back what she had had with Ino. Looking around the classroom at the various girls present, she realizes that she didn't have any real friends here, only acquaintances from the Sasuke fan-club. Ino had been her only real friend in her life, and she wanted her back.

She decided to go see her after her orientation.

And then there was the obvious problem she _wasn't_ addressing. She was most likely going to end up having to leave Konoha and stay somewhere unknown for at least a year. Sakura was both terrified and thrilled at the idea. She had always wanted to travel-see the world and live somewhere different, at least for sometime. However, she had to leave her parents, _her home_ behind and _God she wasn't ready._ She had wanted to travel the world much later in the distant future, certainly not just after graduating. She needed time to think, and dammit, she didn't have any.

Sakura was lost in her frustrated thoughts and therefore completely missed the pitter-patter of approaching footsteps.

Sakura nearly jumped a mile high when the seat next to her was taken by someone. She cursed seeing that it was Yuma who had taken the seat uninvited. Why was he here?

"Come to gloat or something, have you? " she says in her most acerbic tone.

Yuma just stares at her in that odd, creepy way of his before saying stiffly, "Actually, I wanted to apologize for my rudeness yesterday. It was uncalled for. "

Sakura just stares at him uncomprehendingly. She had expected another rude tirade or maybe some insult, not a random apology. She was really confused by the tall brown haired boy sitting next to her but her mouth responds before she got a chance to form an intelligent reply.

"Why?" she squeaks out, wishing for the first time that puberty would come faster for her, if only that her voice didn't squeak so much.

"Because I should have expected you to know nothing about the inner workings of ninja society. Not that I blame you, of course, most civilians don't. I had wrongly presumed you to have had more knowledge, since you had been cavorting around the Uchiha for so long. It was a honest mistake, so I wanted to apologize for it." He says and if Sakura had listened carefully, she might have heard the slight embarassed note in his voice towards the end.

Sakura however wasn't listening carefully. She was actually having to restrain herself with a lot of willpower to not bash his head into the ground. And for a moment there she had thought she was getting an honest to god apology for his shitty behaviour the other day. She should have known better. The stupid bastard thought she was a naïv, air-headed floozy. And did be just say _cavort._ A vein started throbbing dangerously on her forehead.

Yuma meanwhile was starting to feel quite uncomfortable, though he didn't know why. If he was more trained, he would have noticed the mild killing intent that had suddenly descended around him. As such, he just decided to retreat quickly. Smart boy.

"So yeah, sorry again and good luck in the corps." And scurried off as fast as he could when he saw the red face and throbbing nerve on Sakura's forehead.

Sakura was about to go after him and give him a piece of her mind when the door opened again and Iruka called out:

"Haruno Sakura!"


	3. Orientation

**AN: Next chapter is here.**

Sakura was led into one of the bigger rooms near her classroom which she had last seen during her final examinations for becoming a genin. It had only been three days since her genin exams had been finished, but she felt an eternity had passed in between that time. Sakura's entire life had been changed in the last few days. She didn't feel ready to take on the real world where she had been so unceremoniously dumped. For the first time in her life, Sakura didn't feel ready for an exam.

Behind the door, the room had been arranged like an interview room. Their were five chairs in front of the desk. The representatives from each of the three branches sat in three of the chairs. The fourth and fifth chairs were occupied by Ishida-san and the weird Yamanaka. A single seat was in front of the table. It all looked extremely intimidating at first glance. Everyone seemed to be stoic and their faces gave nothing away. Her ex-sensei was the only one to acknowledge her entrance to the room. He gave her a tiny nod and told her to close the door behind her.

Iruka-sensei gave her a small encouraging smile that she tried her best to reciprocate, but it came out more like a grimace, than anything else. She closed the door behind her and sidled up to the chair and slowly took the seat.

Her hands were trembling and she quickly folded them up on her lap before anyone could notice. She rather doubted she had been successful- she was in a room full of jonin, after all.

The orange haired Yamanaka was the first to break the silence.

In a voice that was memorable if only because of the amount of _sweetness_ emanating from it, he began:

"So Sakura-chan, I must say that you have one of the best profiles this year, even if it is only on paper. Your sensei has also told us to expect great things from you. It's very _impressive."_

Sakura felt quite a bit nauseous listening to him speak. She didn't know whether that was how he always spoke, in which case she blessed the gods she didn't have to deal with him every day or if he was putting up the blatantly insincere front specially for her. Looking at the not-so-discrete eye rolls from both the scarred Ibiki character and her ex-sensei, she was inclined on the latter option.

"Yes, yes, that's all nice and everything, Fū, but let's get on with it.", the stoic Huugya cuts in before Fū could continue. Sakura gets the distinct feeling that 'let's get on with it' was this man's favorite line. He definitely had a stick buried deeply up his ass.

"Haruno-kun, your sensei has alerted us of your exceptional tactical prowess. Even though your lack in physical aspects is a distinct disadvantage, we can easily give you a position in one of the border villages. Those always need to be dealt with a deft touch, which you seem to have, or I think can get, if we train you up a bit." Hyuuga Noburo continues on relentlessly, paying no heed to the growing look of alarm in Sakura's startled face.

"Oh for kame's sake, Noburo you have to stop saying things like that. It makes the kids antsy and Sakura here could get into other places too, you shouldn't dismiss her so quickly." Her jonin-sensei says hastily looking at the the barely contained panic in Sakura's eyes.

Sakura hadn't particularly liked her sensei before now, and even now he didn't seem particularly reassuring. But she didn't care. She _At least_ had one person in the room who would listen to her opinion. But even that didn't mitigate the effects of the words of Hyuuga Noburo.

Sakura for her part was panicking. Her mother had been right. And not only that, these people wanted to send her to some backwater border town on her first assignment. Did they want to kill her? She wasn't ready for this shit. She had no training _at all_ and she wasn't ready to go out somewhere on the border and fight like some seasoned pro.

The Hyuuga just shrugs at her ex-sensei's words." Does she have any experience using medical chakra? She has shown some promise in tactics, but we have much better candidates from the upper year Genin. We have to be realistic about her chances, you know? I don't believe in all the misleading crap that you sensei's like to sprout to the kids. It gives them _ideas."_ At his words, Sakura got the distinct impression that genin and their ' ideas' were the bane of this man's existence.

"Be that as it may, we have _tests_ for a reason Noburo, and I will see to it that they are administered. ", her jonin-sensei says with gritted teeth and his moustache quivering in a way that promised pain for anyone who decided to disagree.

Noburo simply shrugs again, his entire posture crying nonchalance, as if her sensei was a petulant child throwing a temper tantrum, rather than a battle-hardened jonin. He ignores his glare and points to the head medic of the hospital as if to tell him to get on with his task. Despite herself, Sakura becomes fascinated at this interaction. She wonders how much danger she had to face before she could shrug off anything like the man in front of her.

Yakushi Hideki beckons to Sakura to come forward and smiles at her with that soft yet steely smile that medic nin always employed to get unwilling ninja to do their every bidding.

"Come up here Haruno-san, I need to perform a test to determine whether you could enter the medic nin program in a few years time." He says, voice oozing calmness and serenity.

Despite her wariness, Sakura approaches the medic nin curiously. She had always been interested in tests of all kinds, so she was itching to know what this was about. She saw the medic pull out a scroll and spread it open on the table in front of him. Coming closer Sakura could see a complicated seal etched on the scroll. The seal was the most complex one Sakura had seen in her life. In the middle of it was a empty luminescent rectangular bar , something which immediately drew Sakura's attention.

She had always been interested in fūuinjutsu. Sakura had thought it a shame that they had never been shown anything other than the most basic of perimeter seals and storage scrolls in academy. It seemed like a dead useful tool and she had heard about the Fourth Hokage's terrifying skills had and sealing abilities. Why ninja's didn't teach it even after knowing that was beyond her.

"What is that seal for?", Sakura asks the medic, Yakushi-san , as she finally stands in front of his seated form.

Yakushi-san simply gives her a wry smile and says, "This seal allows us to measure your chakra control to a very high degree. Medic-nins require precise chakra control for performing medical jutsu's, so It is necessary to know whether you have the chakra control for it first."

Sakura had read about this before in one of her academy texts, so she nods and asks,

"What do I have to do?"

"You know how to charge a seal, don't you?", he questions and she nods. "If you charge this seal, the empty space between the bar here is going to fill up. What you need to do is let your chakra fill up the bar up to this point." He says pointing at a thick line in between the empty bar. Now that Sakura watches closely, she can see gradation markings on both side of the line on the seal. "What I want you to do is try and maintain your chakra so that the chakra level doesn't rise or fall after this point."

He finishes explaining by giving a demonstration. As he starts charging the seal, Sakura stares in wonder as a sea of white chakra seems to rise up the bar, filling it up like an hourglass. When it hit the middle, the chakra completely stops moving and stays glued to the spot. Yakushi-san slowly removes his hands and Sakura just briefly sees the number 92.8 appear in the space below the bar. She wonders if whether that was a percentage score and what was the relative average. But she doesn't want to ask, as it would be rude to ask about something she obviously wasn't supposed to have seen. Her attention was , however, diverted by the medic who pushed the scroll towards her.

Sakura immediately puts a hand on the seal and releases some chakra, testing it. She was alarmed to see that the little chakra she gave shot the chakra bar well over the middle line. She decreases the amount of chakra flowing out of her hand to a tiny trickle and watches with satisfaction as her chakra comes down and settles near the central line. From there, it gets more complicated. Her chakra wants to come out faster and she has to really concentrate to prevent her chakra from rising again.

She valiantly holds her position for two minutes, beads of sweat glistening on her forehead. She had reached her limit. She feels her control snap and she lets go of the seal. She sees the number 88.1 appear on the spot below the bar. She looks up to see how the others took this.

She was met by stunned silence and gaping faces from the various people present. Yakushi-san was giving her a wide-eyed look. Morino Ibiki, who had looked momentarily speechless, gave her a feral grin, which made Sakura want to shudder. She was looking at the first emotion from the Hyuuga she had seen that entire day-surprise, unadulterated surprise. Sakura felt that she must have measured upto some yardstick of his, because she feels that he was looking, _really_ looking, at her for the first time that day.

Her sensei on the other hand was giving off weird vibes. His face seemed to be alternating between a smug smile, a distant frown and a forlorn grimace . His quivering moustache made the normally fearsome joñin look hilarious.

Yet, the eyes of the last person in the room was what made Sakura's ninja senses tingle. It was something all ninja were trained to use-their sixth sense. At that time, Sakura could practically feel the _danger, danger_ vibe that was being given off by Fū. His eyes had become inscrutable, all his previous sweetness gone and he seemed to be in deep thought as he looked at her with a frowning face. Sakura could hear the other four start talking among themselves, but she was reluctant to turn her back to the obvious _threat_ in the room, _and how did I not see that before?_

The raised voice of her ex-sensei, made Sakura reluctantly shift her head and listen to what was being said,

"…..obviously she shouldn't have to go out somewhere. Didn't you see her score! She could be a great medic if she puts her mind to it. It will be a waste of resources. There are other people who are better off going. She obviously has the talent. I don't see why you wouldn't agree! That's the entire point of letting them take the tests!" Her ex-sensei was snapping angrily at Noburo.

"I have to agree there Noburo, her score is unheard of among genin. There is no way we could just let that go on a technicality, yes she dosen't know medical ninjutsu, but she has great academic scores and chakra control. We can have her in performing shape in two months!" Yakushi-san was saying his tone one of genuine irritation at something Noburo had probably said before Sakura had been listening in.

"It's not a technicality, Hideki and you know it! We have to provide at least 10 genin every year and she is one of the viable choices. She has the smarts for the job! You know I have offices to fill and only so many people do it with. I can give her back in six months, and then you can go and do what you want to do with her. But right now we are stretched thin as it is, and I can't afford you messing up everything simply because she had some insane and unknown chakra control ability." The head of the genin corps was nearly yelling when he finished his rant. It was a really disconcerting sight. His white pupil-less eyes were eerily aglow and his Byakugan had activated in his rage. He turned to Ibiki and lowered his voice before asking,

"What do you think, Ibiki?"

XOXOXOXOXO

Morino Ibiki had been quietly watching the three jonin bicker amongst each other. He glances curiously over at the girl who was the reason for the shouting match among the old friends. He shakes his head at her deer-in-the-headlights look. Definitely not for the intelligence department. Regardless of her abundant intelligence, her poker face was too bad for it. He understood that for a newly minted genin, inter-departmental wars could be very difficult to follow or comprehend, but he hoped for better in an intelligence agent. He shakes his head again. This girl was a nightmare without him trying to add another department into the tussle. Yakushi and Noburo were more than enough. Ibiki wonders what their fifth wheel was thinking about her. He grimaces at the thought

Knowing Fū, he was probably fidgeting to burst out of the room and go and inform Danzō. Everyone at the table knew that he was there as an 'observer ' for the council. Which nearly always meant Danzō. Ibiki often wondered about the old bugger. He barely was capable of walking without a stick, and what with his bandaged arm and face, he looked like he was a day away from his death. And yet he held enough sway to keep someone as capable as Fū under his control. Danzō had always been an anomaly to him. It was a wonder no one had offed him by now. He shook his head again to clear his head of political backtalk and continue his scrutiny of the little pre-teen girl.

She looks the definition of weak. Ostentatious pink hair, weak physique, and barely any musculature. Add the fact that she was a girl, her talent had been really unexpected. If she went into the medic corps now, she probably wouldn't even progress to chunnin. One had to be skilled in more than one specialty to get a chunnin position. It required fighting prowess, which she wasn't going to receive sitting around all day at the hospital.

If Ibiki really _knows_ something, he knows people. He knows how they ticked. This girl would always be a pushover unless something made her grow up. In an easy medic career she would never get that push. She has potential to grow to be easily more than a genin, maybe more than a chunnin, and Ibiki wants her to get there. So he decides that being technical in this case will be better for everyone involved. Yakushi could wait for a few years.

"Well, I'm in agreement with Noburo. No, Ryuga, wait and hear me out! Her best chance of becoming a chunnin will be if she tries to get it before she becomes a medic. You know as well as I do that medics rarely try to become chunnin unless they want to become field medics. It will be for her best if she goes about this the normal way, like any other genin. She has potential to become chunnin, and you don't want to waste that, do you?"

XOXOXOXOXO

All the bickering faded quickly after what Ibiki said. Sakura had noticed he had that effect on people. Maybe it was his scarred face. But he had a natural charisma about him which he wielded with terrifying circumspection. Noburo-san's blank face mask returns, but their was a distinct air of smugness about him. Hideki-san was looking plainly disappointed. And her ex-sensei had a resigned look on his face. She still couldn't understand the significance of Fū's inscrutable expression. She had expected him to speak at least once more. Was he there only to stare genin into submission? Sakura tried her best to ignore him. She needed to focus, now more than ever before.

She had followed what the different department-heads had said to the best of her ability. Sakura was sure that there was a lot of byplay going on in the background. About what, Sakura wasn't skilled enough to catch yet. What had _been_ said clearly, Sakura felt was more than what they would be willing to say under other situations. It had been enlightening. She was probably the most well informed genin on campus right then. She also didn't find any way for that knowledge to be useful to her, so she didn't really think much of that achievement.

For a few moments she had felt hope. Maybe she didn't have to go out and leave her home behind. She could stay and become a medic. She didn't particularly want to become a medic, but hell, if it kept her in Konoha, she would have done it without protest. But now her hopes had been dashed. She would be forced to go out of Konoha, and not _once_ had anyone wanted her opinion.

Noburo-san seemed to have recovered sufficiently enough to say,

"Now that that is all decided, I believe I have just the assignment for you." He finishes with the last line directed at her. Sakura tries not to fidget as Noburo-san fishes into a bag and retrieves a scroll from it.

He seems to hesitate for a moment, before throwing the scroll to Sakura." It's a higher priority mission than what I will give to a fresh genin. But as it has already been established that you are a _special_ case, I should think it won't be much problem.", he finishes the sentence with a sneer that makes Sakura feel that she would have been better off anywhere other than here at that moment.

Before she could open the scroll and peek inside, Ishida-san snatches the scroll out of her hands and breaks the seal and promptly takes a look inside. He has a distinctive look of concern on his face. Sakura feels irritation rising in her at the sight. He was the one who had failed her! It was because of him that she was doing all this in the first place! So how could he get away at pretending to be concerned for her _now._ It was so damn hypocritical of him to pretend to help her now that he had already ruined her once. Sakura had half a mind to tell him about this but held her tongue as his face grew more concerned as he read on. In turn, Sakura could also fell her dread rising.

"Takayama town? But that's a high priority town! And it is under the fire monks' control. They won't let other Leaf nin enter, even during crisis!" he bellows angrily." It's no place to send genin, let alone newly minted ones!"

Hyuuga Noburo seems to actually take offense at the insinuation of the other jonin. He says in what Sakura thinks was the coldest tone she had heard until then in her life, " You think I don't know that, huh? Of course I know it's under the control of the fire temple. The monks have mellowed out recently under their new head ninja, Chiriku, who is a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja . Anyway, they have started allowing Leaf nin to take missions from Takayama. It's a bigger outpost than most of the others and yet sees little action but still requires a larger presence from our side to keep tabs on the ninja monks. The only reason chunnin are sent is to allow them to look better on paper. Also there is a special jonin from Intelligence there right now. Aoba, I think." he looks at Ibiki when he says this, and he nods in response and then snickers at some unheard joke. The others look at him questioningly, so he chuckles quietly and says:

"it's actually a bit of a joke over at intelligence. Aoba had been looking for a vacation from the department for months- he had been grumbling about having to do way too much paperwork and too many smart-asses making his life hell. So the Hokage decided to gave him a year long mission out in Takayama, holding the fort there. Little paperwork and no fieldwork. A beautiful village two minutes from the base, great sights all around. You get the picture… well three months into his stay there, Chiriku was selected as the new head of the Fire Temple ninjas. And the first thing he decides to do is open up the town to Konoha. Word is that Aoba barely has time to sleep right now, let alone enjoy the sights. The last chunnin there said that he was buried neck deep in paperwork. He has been requesting back up for quite a few weeks now."

 _Oh well_ , Sakura thinks wryly as the other adults laugh at this little tidbit. At least she wasn't going to end up dead in a place which had a hundred other allied ninja two steps from her. And if what they said about the other ninja was true, then she was going to have company as well. That was pretty rare in itself in this kind of job.

"Anyway, it's as safe as any of the other missions I have. Six months long, so you will be returning with Aoba." He points at Sakura here."So tell me now if you still think it's a risky mission?" He addresses the last line to Ryuga.

Ishida-san continues to scrutinize the mission scroll for half a minute more before handing the scroll over to Sakura. He nods curtly to Noburo-san before turning to Sakura who had just begun reading the mission details.

RANK: C

LOCATION: TAKAYAMA TOWN, (3 KM SOUTH OF THE FIRE TEMPLE)

TERM: 6 MONTHS

"Now," Noburo-san started speaking again and Sakura looks up from the scroll, "there is usually a seven day training camp most genin Corp members take before leaving for their mission destinations. I guess you will want to take that training ?" he queries, and barely stops to acknowledge the answering nod before continuing, "What you are going to learn will depend on your jonin-sensei, assuming you have no problems with him?" , this time the question is more palpable. Hyuuga Noburo might have the emotional range of a teaspoon, but he was good enough a ninja to feel the tension that had sprung between Sakura and her sensei.

Sakura's nod is tentative. Her opinions of the man who had failed her were conflicting to say the least. But something told her that even if they were on bad terms, Ishida Ryuga wasn't a person who did anything half-assed, especially if it had anything to do with training.

" Alright, then", Ishida-san spoke up grinning sharply at her, "Then be at training ground 26 tomorrow morning by 6 in the morning."

Sakura groans and nods again. She had been probably been very accurate with her estimation of her sensei's character. She also got the distinct feeling that that had been a dismissal. So she got up and quickly bowed to everyone present.

"So is there anything else…." She pauses for a moment during which she gets a small smile and shake of head from Yakushi-san and her sensei, a deadpan look from Noburo-san, another inscrutable one and a nod from Yamanaka Fū (creepy) and a feral grin from Ibiki.

Which was also creepy, even if Ibiki was kind of cool.

"So, um, yeah, right, thank you everyone!" she squeaks out awkwardly and before she could further make a fool of herself, starts hurrying out of the room.

She quickly disappears out of the door and into an empty corridor. She stares for just a moment before deciding to go and find Iruka-sensei, when he suddenly appears just two feet from her face. She is unable to suppress a startled squeak, much to her thinks Iruka-sensei must have some secret sensory ability, because there was _no way_ he appeared there exactly when she wished for him to appear. Looking at his smirk, Sakura is quite sure it's not the first time that had happened either.

Iruka-sensei gave her another smile, this one she was able to return much more easily and he must have sensed something about the situation and so didn't stop her to talk. It was her last visit to the academy for a very long time to come, though she didn't know it then.

Sakura decides to go dump her file and start making an inventory of the gear she needed to buy and pack for the trip that was to come. She needed to pay a visit to the Yamanaka Flower shop, before though. She hoped that Ino would be in. She had three years of catching up to do. She had lots to say to Ino and very little time to do any of it.

She also needed to talk to her parents. She didn't expect it to be an easy conversation; but the situation was better than any of them had been expecting, so that would undoubtedly take some of the sting out of any bitterness they felt.

It had helped her at least.

Hopefully, things might just about turn out okay.

 **AN: Poor Sakura doesn't know that she has just jinxed herself. Thanks for reviewing Suzululu4moe. Guys, I'm writing this for myself more than for anyone else here. But it feels nice to get reviews, so even if you don't like the story, let me know, can you?**


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